Our last, best hope
by Zieg Feld
Summary: When the Master Chief died, humanity thought all hope was lost. they were wrong. all hope was lost when the Spartan Tech was stolen and adapted by the covenant. as a last ditch strategy the Spartan Project was brought back. they went through two different kinds of spartans before finally deciding on the Spartan Vs as the last, best hope for humanity.


the Spartan II series were considered the best. until the technology was stolen by what remained of the covenant. then it became a race to ccreate newer, better spartans. the III series were touger than the average spartan, their armor was made of titanium and their shields were nearly three times stronger. unfortunately the physical training required to be able to move in the armor was so intense that only one in four recruits survived. the IV series was made to be unequaled in all forms of combat, with light weight armor that had built-in weapons. they could move at nearly fourty miles per hour when sprinting. We thought that they would be the answer. until the covenant showed off their first Praetorian, an elite with enhanced spartan like armor that owered over even other elites. he tore through the Spartan IVs like wet tissue paper. the next generation, the Spartan Vs were supposed to be the best. they were a combination of every previous spartan project. some were the original spartans while others had the fighting capabilities of a spartan II with the Speed of a Spartan IV. I am a Spartan V, more specifically i am Spartan V Jake 003, one of the original Spartan Vs i was designed to be stronger than any Spartan before, easily able to lift the four tons of metal that makes up a scorpion tank. i am generally armed with only a single weapon. a nine foot long sword that has an edge made from adapted Covenant technology. its edge is pure energy capable of slicing through steel like butter. in addition to the new Spartan progams being made, we never get deployed alone, always in groups of three or six. i am in a group of three with Jade 002 and Mikael 001. jade is a long range weapon specialist who can snipe a grunt from over three miles away. mikael is our assualt specialist and the most diverse when it comes to weapons. he and i are almost always on the front line while Jade takes them out from afar. the only reason i am being allowed to write this is so that the future generations remember why they are free, why they aren't slaves to the covenant. our story starts exactly five years ago, on a planet whos name has a higher security clearance than the Whole spartan project. not even a a planet really. more a ring actually. our story begins on installation 5. thats right a Halo.

"Jake, can you here me jake?" jades voice sounds in my ears through the comslink.

"yeah jade, reading you loud and clear," i send back. i look to my right and see her kneeling on top of a hill, sniper rifle in hand. to my right is Mikael who is checking his Assualt rifle again.

"calm down Mike, it hasnt changed since the last time you checked it, ya know five minutes ago," i tease him.

"go to hell Jake," i can almost hear the smile in his voice. "atleast i don't sleep with my weapon."

"hey remember the last time i let this sword get out of my sight, i had to literally remove it from a wall because some stupid marine decided to try and swing it." i remind him.

"oh thats right, anyways look," he gestures towards his right."the enemy is showing its ugly face." a covenant platoon just cam into view. there are twelve grunts six jackals three elites and, oh crap, a Praetorian armed with an energy sword fitted to his enormous size, he is over fifteen feet tall and from shoulder to shoulder maybe six feet across. suffice to say he makes Hunters look small.

" time to go to work guys," i tell my squad. i pull my sword off my back and turn on its energy weave."lets kick some ass!" i kick up some dirt and i charge forward, ignoring the grunts and jackals as i close in on the elites. All of a sudden im flying through the air. i twist backwards in the air and land on my feet sword up and in front of me. the Praetorian had moved into my way with his sword at the ready. he growls something in his alien toungue and charges at me. our swords meet and a small urst of energy shoves us apart. i guess the energy in his sword is somewhat unstable because my sword has come into contact with normal energy blades and that never happened before. i charge at him and swing down trying to cut him across the chest from shoulder to hip. he raises his sword to block my blow and the resulting energy burst fries his sword. i swing again and my sword rebounds off his shield and he punches me in the gut. doubled over i cough up a little blood inside my helmet. looking around i see that all the other covenant are dead and that Mikael and jade are waiting for me to finish the Preaetorian. i rise up and grab my sword in one hand. i run forward, ducking under a punch and stab my sword straight towards his chest. normally his shields, well any shield actually, would stop an attack but with all my power directed at such a small point it shatters his shield and my blade slides into him. he spasms once and then goes limp. damn he's heavy, i side step and let gravity take him off my sword.

"you okay Jake?" jades voice sounds worried. " i should have helped."

"hey don't beat yourself up, you were only following orders." i tell her. its a long standing rule that if any Spartan V goes up against a Praetorian its a one on one unless the Spartan dies. then its all or nothing."we need to get to the rendezvous point." i turn around and put my sword back in its sheath and walk away. we arive at the rendezvous point and find a smoldering wreck that should have been a Falcon.

"we have a problem guys," i check my radar and see more red blips than clear screen." enemys all around us and closing in fast, Jade radio for evac, me and Mikael will hold them off."

"right." she kneels down and pulls out a long distance radio, one designed to reach across galaxies. a covenant drop ship flies down and drops off nearly two dozen elites and three Praetorian who are all armed with energy swords and what appears to be a plasma turret that was ripped off their stands. the Praetorians charge us while the elites stay back and fire off blass of energy from their plasma rifles. i pull my sword out of its sheath and block an attack from a Praetorian and quickly counterattack with a quick strike to its head with the pommel of my sword, closely followed with a slash across it's stomach. the next thing i know im on the ground with my helmet half off my face. wait no half gone. suicide Praetorian, thats new, i think as i stand up and toss the remains of my helmet aside. when i try to lift my sword with my right hand a searing pain shoot down my side. my power armor probably already ran the diagnostic but i couldn't see it due to my helmet having been destroyed. i switch hands and throw my sword at another Praetorian, it impales him through the stomach setting off the Explosives in his body. the resulting explosion kill three elites as well. i run forward and punch an elite in the gut, my hand stabbing through his armor, i toss him to the side and block an attack from another one. i backhanded him,sending him flying away. another elite charges me and throws a punch before feinting into a sweep kick knocking me to the ground. he tries to punch me whil im down but cracks his hand against my armor, i kick him in the face, hearing a satisfieng crunch. he crumples to the ground. i look around and see that the other Praetorian is olding jade up off the ground by her throat. he's to far away for me to get to them without useing a whiteout. i should have explained this earlier, every Spartan V has a special Aromor ability that they design themselves. min is called a Whiteout factor, which allows me to move faster than the eye can see for up to thirty seconds but i can't see or hear anything while i'm doing it. so i have to rely solely on my instincts to guide me to the enemy. it doesn't always work but rarley fails in this sort of situation. my vision fades to whit and a loud ringing fills my ears, and i'm off. i slam into something much bigger than me, taking it to hte ground where i proceed to punch it over and over again. i feel it go limp beneath me but i keep going, almost enjoying the primal joy of feeling its boddy get softer and softer with each blow. my vision returns and i look around. jade is on the ground but looks okay. the Praetorian beneath me is dead. then something hits me. literally, the praetorian explodes and sends me flying back and i hit my head on a rock. i try to fight off unconsiousness but btween the two explosions and the rock its a losing battle. my vision fades to black and the last thing i hear is Jade calling my name. the last thing i feel is Mikael picking me up and setting me on something hard.


End file.
